Paris R3 previews and predictions: Nadal vs. Cuevas, Thiem vs. Verdasco

After clinching the year-end No. 1 ranking, Rafael Nadal will continue his Paris campaign when he goes up against Pablo Cuevas in the Paris third round on Thursday. Dominic Thiem and Fernando Verdasco are also aiming for a place in the quarterfinals.

(1) Rafael Nadal vs. Pablo Cuevas

The year-end No. 1 ranking has been clinched. Nadal locked it up for the fourth time in his illustrious career when he defeated Hyeon Chung 7-5, 6-3 in the second round of the Rolex Paris Masters on Wednesday. The top-seeded Spaniard is 66-10 this season with two Grand Slam titles and four other winners’ trophies (including two at Masters 1000 tournaments) plus a runner-up performance at the Australian Open. He is 17-0 in his last 17 matches against opponents other than Roger Federer.

It is safe to say that Nadal is not facing Federer on Thursday; not even close. Cuevas had not won a single match since the French Open prior to his arrival in Paris, a brutal stretch that saw him compile an 0-10 record. Out of absolutely nowhere, the 36th-ranked Uruguayan has picked up victories this week over Karen Khachanov (6-4, 6-2) and Albert Ramos-Vinolas (6-7(5), 7-6(1), 6-2). Cuevas is 1-3 lifetime against Nadal with a clay-court upset in last year’s Rio de Janeiro semifinals. With Nadal in stellar form and the underdog nothing short of hopeless over the last five months, another upset will not be taking place.

Pick: Nadal in 2 losing 5-7 games

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(5) Dominic Thiem vs. Fernando Verdasco

Thiem and Verdasco will be going head-to-head for just the second time in their careers on Thursday. Their only previous encounter came two years ago at Wimbledon, where Verdasco prevailed 5-7, 6-4, 5-7, 6-3, 6-4. The Spaniard is a bigger underdog now according to the rankings (No. 39 to No. 6), but current form suggests otherwise. Thiem, as usual, has been a borderline disaster since the end of the clay-court swing. The 24-year-old Austrian is 8-9 in his last 17 tournament matches, but he at least managed to hold off lucky loser Peter Gojowyczk 6-4, 6-7(3), 6-4 on Tuesday.

Verdasco is coming off a semifinal performance last week in Stockholm and so far in Paris he has taken out Andrey Rublev and Kevin Anderson. The 33-year-old sent Rublev packing for the NextGen ATP Finals in Milan with a 7-6(1), 7-6(6) victory and he eliminated Anderson from World Tour Finals contention by getting the job done 5-7, 6-4, 7-5. This is a good opportunity for a confident Verdasco against a struggling opponent who has admitted that indoor hard courts are a rough surface for his game.